Poisoned Pawn

by Jaleta Clegg

  The dinner dragged on. I made myself eat although Luke’s nearness made me gag and my growing certainty that Luke knew I was not Arramiya Daviessbrowun tied my stomach in knots. Luke finally called an end to the meal, rising and pulling me to my feet. He held my hand possessively.

  “It’s such a fine night,” Luke said. “Drinks and music on the patio.” He smiled his charismatic smile and led the way through the wide sliding door.

  The night air was warm, heavy with the scent of plants growing. Luke’s almost invisible serving woman poured drinks from a cart on the far side. The lamps spilled warm yellow light over the stones. Luke stroked my back, his hand warm through the thin fabric of my dress. His touch made me shiver, the hairs on my neck standing up.

  Luke’s guests mingled, talking and posturing for each other. There was an undercurrent of distrust to their conversations. They were feeling each other out, deciding who they could trust, as far as any of them could be trusted. I had no illusions that these were just business people.

  “Don’t wander, Miya,” Luke said, his breath hot on my neck. “I have business to discuss. Stay here and make yourself enchanting.”

  I clutched the glass I held, untasted, and nodded. I watched Luke move across the patio, smiling and smooth as he shook hands and paused to talk.

  Dysun caught my eye. He moved towards me, his red hair catching the light of the lamps. He stopped in front of me, sipping a gold colored drink. “How do you do it, Dace?”

  “I don’t know what you mean. I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

  “Keep playing your game, Dace. It won’t help.” He walked away, towards Luke.

  Luke refilled his glass before working his way back towards me. Dysun intercepted him. Dysun talked, waving his hand my direction. I caught the word ‘Patrol’ and saw Luke’s face tighten in anger. Both of them came towards me. Dysun smiled smugly.

  Luke’s cold dark eyes studied me, flat and unreadable. “Miya. Or should I believe this pirate? He claims you are actually a Patrol agent. Would that perhaps explain your father’s lack of concern?”

  “You kidnapped me. Why would I pretend to be someone I’m not?” I said, my voice hoarse with strain. I kept my eyes on Luke’s hard face. I resisted the urge to look at Dysun.

  “She’s lying,” Dysun said. “She’s good at lying.”

  “Hom Farr’s story makes sense, Miya. Or should I not call you that?” Luke’s lips twisted farther, his smile growing. “If you are not Miya, then it won’t matter what I do with you, will it? Because Hom Daviessbrowun won’t care. And no one else will ever find your body.”

  I was saved from anything further by a commotion across the grounds. The cruik growled and whined in the bushes. Luke moved to the edge of the patio and snapped out an order. The keeper of the cruik scuttled out of the shadows, darting to the far side of the grounds. The growling lessened, changed to barking whines.

  Two of Luke’s men approached the patio, dragging another man between them. He was wearing a tan uniform with the floating world of the Planetary Survey prominent on the front.

  “We found him just outside the gate,” one of the guards explained.

  Luke’s eyes flicked over the man. “You were told to keep your distance from my house,” Luke said to the man in the tan uniform. “I would not interfere with your studies if you did not interfere with my private life.” He stepped back, dismissing him. “Take him outside the gate and dump him. He can take back a warning to his friends.”

  “We found explosives in his pack,” one of Luke’s guards said.

  Luke glanced my way. His eyes burned with anger. His smile turned to a snarl. “Patrol agents? Why else would Planetary Survey bring explosives to my home?”

  I was dead. I read it in his face.

  “Kill him and leave his head outside my gate,” Luke said over his shoulder. His eyes were all for me.

  I shivered and took a single step back.

  Dysun grabbed me, pressing my back against his chest. His hands dug into my arms, leaving bruises. “Payback,” he whispered into my hair.

  The wall behind us suddenly erupted in a blinding flash of light. Pieces of stone tumbled down onto the patio. Luke’s party dissolved into a screaming mob. People ran inside, shouting for their weapons. The gate in the wall blew up, shaking the ground. Dysun stumbled as a stone smashed next to him, losing his grip on my arm. I spun around and slammed my free hand into his face. He swore and swung back. Another explosion above us sent him tumbling to the side. Blocks of stone crashed onto the patio. The drink cart smashed in a tinkling of glass. I backed away, towards the garden.

  Luke charged across the patio towards me, a snarl twisting his face. A chunk of stone glanced off his head and he sprawled on the ground.

  I took the opportunity I’d been handed and ran for the far wall, dark and silent. The sound of gun fire and explosions sent me running faster. I never even noticed when I lost the dainty shoes I’d been wearing.

  I didn’t care who was attacking. I had to get out. My whole universe focused down to that one goal. I didn’t care what animals were in the forest. They couldn’t be more menacing than the animals in the house behind me.

  I hit the far wall at a full run, scrambling up the smooth stone. The top was set with broken glass and wires. I cut my hand as I went over. My skirt tore. I landed hard on the other side, rolling away from the wall into the underbrush. I yanked a strip from my dress and wound it around my hand. I didn’t feel pain from the deep gash, only a warm wetness that dripped off my fingers.

  I got to my feet, limping and hoping nothing was broken. Not that it mattered. I was escaping and nothing was going to stop me. I walked blindly into the dark forest, intent on putting as much distance between me and the house as I could. I didn’t realize I was sobbing until tears dripped off my chin. It didn’t matter. I was free.

  I was lost and barefoot in a very dark, very wild forest on a planet with fewer people than the average dockside bar. I was a thousand miles from anywhere. It didn’t matter. I had a chance again. I was away from Luke Verity.

  I stumbled, my feet cut and bleeding. I took the easiest path, down a long gully with a thin trickle of water at the bottom. The trees were less thick along the side of the stream. I waded into the water, letting its coldness numb my feet. The sounds of fighting faded behind me.

  The moon came out after a while, shedding bits of light through the trees and playing tag in the sky with clouds. I kept walking, tripping and falling in the water until I was soaked and shivering. I picked myself up after a particularly nasty fall, wincing and rubbing my bruised arms. I waited, the water dripping past my feet, until the moon came out again.

  Silver light spilled from behind the clouds as I shivered in the cold water. I started walking again, scrambling over rocks made slippery by moss and water. I almost slid over a waterfall. I was so numb that the low rumble of water falling didn’t register in my brain. I stopped, waving my arms to try to save my balance.

  I was on a lip of stone at least thirty feet high. The thin trickle of water had grown to something ankle deep. Water poured over the lip and splashed into a basin below. I fell backwards, landing with a splash. I sat and shivered, crying uncontrollably. I splashed water over my face, trying to stop the senseless sobbing. The cold helped. I shivered harder. I had to leave the water.

  I crossed, stepping carefully, climbing out onto the far bank. I pushed my way through a screen of bushes, getting scratched in the process. My skirt caught and ripped again. I limped up a slight rise past the bushes and under the towering pines.

  It was much darker, but the trees grew so close that nothing else could sprout. Their lower branches were high above my head. I groped my way along, feeling for the prickly trunks so I could avoid them. My hands left sticky prints where I touched. Blood caked across both of them. The sharp pine needles underfoot stabbed my bare feet. I kept moving despite the pain. I had to put distance between me and Luke. If he survived the fight, he wo
uld find me and kill me after torturing me. The thought of Luke pushed me to keep moving.

  I fell into a walking doze, stumbling down the slope of the ridge. The sound of the stream rushing along the bottom was hypnotic. The pain of moving was a distant thing. Some part of my brain knew that when I finally stopped moving, I was going to hurt. I kept walking, clinging to the numbness like armor.

  I broke into a small clearing and stumbled to a halt, staring at the white flowers blooming in the moonlight. A low growl sounded behind me. My numbness shattered. I turned very slowly, feeling sharp pain from my feet as I moved.

  A black shadow hugged the ground under a spreading pine. It was huge, staring with eyes that flashed green in the night. It growled again, a deep rumble that made my hair stand up along my neck. My heart raced. I thought I’d used up all my fear on Luke. I was wrong. The eyes blinked. The black shadow sidled closer. I caught the glint of moonlight on very large teeth.

  “Don’t move,” a voice whispered behind me.

  I froze. Something brushed against my cheek, leaving a thin burning line. The black shadow gave a cry that sounded almost human and crumpled. I stayed still, too shocked by everything that had happened to me to move.

  A figure came past me, moving quietly and surely across the clearing. He knelt by the shadow. “He’ll sleep for a while. It’s a male, so at least I don’t have to worry about its hunting partners,” the man said in a normal voice.

  I knew that voice. I’d heard it many times in my dreams. I trembled, shivering with reaction, with relief, with the conviction that I was hallucinating.

  “Now what idiot would be running around in these forests at night in an evening gown?” Tayvis said, rising and turning to face me. “Dace?” He couldn’t have sounded more surprised if he’d found the Emperor’s mother.

  I stared at the floating planet on his uniform jacket, not seeing it. I wondered if he was a hallucination, if I were going to wake up to find myself locked in the room at Luke’s mansion. He took a step into the clearing. He had a rifle dangling from one hand. I raised my gaze to his face. He looked uncertain, as surprised as I did.

  “Tayvis,” I said. I meant it to come out cool, smooth, as if I did this every day. It came out shaky and weak. I was on the verge of a complete breakdown and it showed.

  He stepped forward, wrapping me in his arms, holding me tight. His gun dug into my back. I didn’t care. He was real. He was solid and warm. I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heart beating.

  “We have to move.” His voice was deep in my ear. “The bushy won’t sleep long. We don’t want to be here when he wakes up.” He pushed me gently away and looked me over. “How do you get into these things, Dace?”

  I looked down. My dress hung by one shoulder. The filmy skirt was tattered. Streaks of blood, black in the moonlight, stained the delicate fabric.

  “There’s a place about a half mile away,” Tayvis said. “We can hole up there until morning. Bushies only hunt at night.” He let me go.

  I shivered in the sudden cold.

  He started across the clearing, stooping to pick up a small pack. He slung it over his shoulder, his gun in his other hand. He stopped, looking back uncertainly. I took a step and winced at the pain.

  “I’ve got more supplies cached. Are you going to make it?” He sounded concerned. It was the most wonderful thing I’d heard in weeks.

  “I have to,” I said and didn’t trust myself to say anything more.

  He put his arm around me. I leaned on him as we walked from the clearing into the dark forest.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “It’s a disaster,” Querran said. She stood in the rubble of a very elegant dining room and sniffed. The smell of smoke lingered. “What set off the attack?”

  “They caught Larkin as he was setting the charges,” a man answered. He sat on what was left of a chair, bandages wrapped around one arm. He was one of Lowell’s men, wearing a pale green uniform, the name badge said Jukin. She didn’t know if it was real or not.

  “It was a day early,” Querran continued. “Half the men were unprepared. We lost two of Trey’s scientists.” She frowned as she watched the flitter landing on the patio for the second time that night. The first time it had brought her and the medical team then took away a full load of prisoners. There were only corpses left to move now. “And we lost the main quarry.”

  “This place has more escape hatches than I’ve ever seen,” Jukin said tiredly. “We thought we had it covered.”

  “So where is Luke Verity?” Querran asked.

  Jukin held up a handcom. “They’re looking for him. You can ask them.”

  “It’s a disaster,” Querran repeated, not taking the com.

  “We’re down to less than half strength,” Jukin said. “We’re covering as much as we can.”

  “I know,” Querran answered. “Any sign of the missing woman Lowell’s so concerned about?”

  Jukin shook his head. “She was on the patio last night, when the attack started. No one’s seen her since.”

  “He won’t be happy to hear that,” Querran said, watching as Lowell climbed out of the flitter, followed by Clark and Jasyn. She pinched her mouth in disapproval. Civilians didn’t belong here. Especially when the Patrol had screwed up so badly. Her face twisted in a scowl as they were followed by Trey. The lights on the patio, emergency battery lights brought in by the cleanup team, threw harsh shadows over them as they came to the door of the dining room.

  Lowell looked at the mess, taking in the wounded and the dead waiting for transport. Querran watched him, waiting for him to show something other than calm interest. Lowell disappointed her. His face remained expressionless.

  “When do you expect to have the power restored?” he asked her.

  “We have a team looking for the main generator,” Querran answered. “This place is riddled with tunnels. And with desperate men. We’re still fighting them in the lower levels.”

  Lowell turned his attention to Jukin. “How bad?”

  “We’ve lost ten so far.” Jukin kept his voice level, ever the professional, but the pain was still there. “Eight wounded.”

  Lowell patted his uninjured shoulder. “Call in your reinforcements,” Lowell told Querran.

  She knew better than to protest. She had three cruisers waiting far outsystem. “It’s going to take a couple of days,” she warned.

  “Use the com in the flitter,” he said. His silver eyes gave nothing away.

  Querran walked past him, her boots crunching through shattered glass.

  * * *

  Lowell studied the mess of Luke Verity’s mansion. He half listened to com chatter in the background. Querran was right to blame him for the mess. Too early, he had been caught with his plans only half in place.

  “And Dace?” Jasyn asked. She stood in the middle of the room, arms wrapped tightly around her as if to protect her from the violence that had smashed the room. She very carefully didn’t look at the covered shapes in the corner.

  Jukin shook his head.

  Jasyn seemed to deflate. She turned and walked out of the room again without a word. Clark followed her, put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, her dark hair spilling free over his arm. Her braid had come loose sometime during the night.

  Lowell shook his head, hiding his own frustration. Everything had gone wrong, starting with that frantic call at sunset. What was done, was done. It was time for damage control. He turned to Trey.

  The director of the population survey study swallowed hard, his face a pale green that almost matched his uniform. “Do we have to meet here?”

  “Is there a better room for conferencing?” Lowell asked Jukin.

  Jukin spoke on his com, then waved to the shattered doorframe when he finished. “Two doors to the left.”

  “Send Querran to us when she comes back,” Lowell told Jukin. He turned back to Trey. “I need information. Please, this way.”

  Trey nodded, eager to leav
e the room. He couldn’t help staring at the bloodstains spattered across the walls. His complexion paled even further.

  They crunched across shattered glass in the hall to the door Jukin indicated. An empty space where the outside wall and window used to be were the only traces of the fight. Lowell swept debris off a round table and pulled out a stack of sheets.

  “Fetch some chairs, please,” he told Trey as he spread the papers out. The only light in the room spilled in from the emergency lights set up outside. Dawn was still a few hours away.

  Lowell stepped through the sagging outer wall and went to the flitter. Querran argued over the com. She flicked an unreadable glance at Lowell as he rummaged through the storage compartment under the seats of the flitter.

  “In there,” Lowell said, pointing at the room he’d just left. “Soon?” Lowell pulled a lantern from the compartment.

  She held up two fingers. “You have my authorization. He can’t deny you,” she said into the com.

  Lowell left her to her argument.

  Trey had found several chairs and brushed off the worst of the dust and glass. He had them pulled up around the table. Lowell set the lantern on the table and turned it on. White light spilled over the papers. Lowell tapped one, changing the picture on it several times.

  The first picture showed shots of the gardens, lit only by the lamps on the patio. People in evening wear talked and drank on the patio. Lowell magnified the faces, studying each one for a moment before moving on.

  Trey fidgeted with a map of the surrounding area, curling one corner into a roll and flattening it over and over.

  “Do you recognize any of them?” Lowell asked.

  Trey glanced at the pictures. “Never seen any of them before. Who are they?”

  “The scum of the Empire. This one,” he tapped the page, “is suspected of running a slave ring out beyond the frontier worlds. He supplies most of the underworld brothels for three different sectors. Interesting that he would be here.”